1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to apparatus and methods for wellbore completion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hydrocarbons, such as oil and gas, as well as geothermal resources are recovered from a subterranean formation using a wellbore drilled into the formation. Such wellbores are typically completed by placing a casing along the wellbore length, cementing the annulus between the casing and the wellbore and perforating the casing adjacent each production zone. A wellbore casing is often made by joining relatively short pipe sections (for example 30 m long) via threaded connections at the pipe ends. Such conventional casing techniques utilize tubular strings of decreasing diameters and include multiple threaded connections. Monobore wellbore construction utilizing a solid casing design has limitations in terms of achievable collapse resistance of an expanded tubular. Expansion of liner elements connected with threads run a high risk with respect to the achievable long term reliability. The cost of building deep and extended reach wells is very high. Therefore, it is desirable to provide alternative methods of building such wellbores.
Thus, there is a need for improved apparatus and methods for building wellbores for transporting fluid to or from downhole locations without exposing the fluid to the wellbore locations between the surface and the downhole locations.